Monday, June 17, 2013

Game Development, or rather, Gaming, is a term always associated with the youth. Be the impression bad or good, be the times and trends old or new, games have always defined what the children and society are like in the current world.

Most students that enroll in Information Technology or Computer Science have this misconception that (believe me, I've asked) to them, the following are the right reasons why they chose their respective courses.

"I like DoTA (Defence of the Ancients) and playing computer games"
"I want to be able to play games as a profession. How hard can a course like that be?"
"It's just using the computer. The course will be easy." 

Horrible!! Just horrible!But fortunately, Mr. Abenza made sure to include those misconceptions in his Opportunities on Game Development talk this June 17, 2013.

bohol IT events
Ma'am Leah introducing the speaker

Jhondie "JD" Abenza is a Boholano, Founder/CEO of Zeenoh Games and part of the Product Development and Design Center of the Philippines and the Game Developer's Association of the Philippines.

He introduced us to the World History of Game Making with this video:

He also talked about the Philippine History of Game Making, the Roles and Process in Game Making and the aformentioned misconceptions.

bohol IT events
Mr. Abenza starting his talk

I honestly didn't find the topic of game development history that interesting. True the topic is important but a brief summary would have sufficed and it would have been nice to focus on the "Roles and Process in Game Making" topic more to inform the students what skills are needed to be part of a game dev team.

Nevertheless, the talk was still fun when it came to the Q & A. After seeing a short video of how sir Abenza's gaming company worked, the students were clamoring for a OJTrainee opportunity. He mentioned he would like to have a studio set up in Bohol in the future so that got the students excited.

He also answered a question about which programming language should beginner game developers learn: C++.  And one should sharpen his understanding of OOP (Object-oriented Programming). As for aspiring game designers, a good foundation on art such as hand writing and drawing is essential.

Hopefully, the Bohol ICT Council will be holding and hosting more events like this. They also should know that they have the support of the IT groups in Bohol. Our kids have the talent. All they need is the drive and the right push.

Thank you to the hosts, Bohol ICT Council and Holy Name University especially ma'am Leah Tirol-Magno and ma'am Amie Caballo.

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